Style.com chatted with Robert Downey Jr. about his new role in David Fincher’s Zodiac but also a bit about Iron Man. Here’s a clip:

With his gray hairs and squint lines, Downey comes off as a battle-hardened veteran alongside Gyllenhaal’s dewy ingenue. Which makes it all the more remarkable that now, at this stage in his career, he’s about to don a superhero suit. To say he’s excited is an understatement. “I have f—ing nerd-gasms about this type of stuff,” he enthuses. Iron Man is a billionaire named Tony Stark who, after a terrible injury, makes himself a mechanical bodysuit and goes out to save the world. Downey considers the role a sort of gift from the universe now that he has reached a point in his life where he can handle it. Still, he is grateful that the $100 million production will be shot entirely in California, allowing him to stay close to his wife and the rest of a support network that includes a shrink, a sensei and assorted healing therapists. “Once you have that support, you know, why would you fare as well without it?” he asks. “It’s like, you know, if you become a more effective engine, you need more maintenance.”